Time Warner Inc. on Wednesday reported an 80 percent jump in profits, and more than doubled its stock buyback program.

The New York-based company said it would increase the buyback by $7.5 billion to $12.5 billion over the next 21 months. Large investors have been pressuring the company to do more to boost its stock, which has lagged since the 2000 merger with America Online Inc.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the entertainment company reported net income of $897 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with $499 million, or 11 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 6 percent to $10.5 billion, led by growth in the company''s cable operations, TV networks, movie studios and publishing segment.

"Our solid third-quarter results and expanded stock repurchase program highlight the fundamental operating strength of our businesses and their growing momentum," Dick Parsons, chief executive of Time Warner, said in a statement. "In short, our company is strong and getting stronger."

AOL continued to lose subscribers to its dial-up service in the quarter. But the 10 percent drop in subscription revenues was offset by a 28 percent jump in advertising revenues. Revenues overall declined 5 percent to $2 billion.

As of Sept. 30, AOL had 20.1 million U.S. subscribers, a drop of 2.6 million from a year ago. In Europe, AOL dropped 170,000 subscribers from last year to 6.1 million members.

Parsons, meanwhile, confirmed that the company was in talks to sell a stake in AOL, but said there was no guarantee of a deal, the Wall Street Journal reported. Those talks have reportedly been with several companies, including Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.